Hood for the cockpits of aeroplanes



Jul 22, 1947. ,J, MARHN 2,424,245

HOOD FOR THE COCKPITS OF AEROPLANES Filed July 8, 19 44 4 Sheets-Sheet lIra/021217 JAMES MAIiT/N.

July 22, 1947. J. MARTIN 2,424,245

HOOD FOR THE COCKPITS OF AEROPLANES Filed July 8, 1944 4 Sheets-'-Sheet2 Iwuerzibr .mmzs MARTIN July 22, 1947. J." MARTIN HOOD FOR THE COCKPITSOF AEROPLANES Filed July 8, 1944 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Jul 22, 1947.

J. MARTIN HOOD FOR THE COGKPITS OF AEROPLANES Filed July 8, 1944 4Sheets Sheet 4 Ir: vex/bf HOJA/IES mum/V I la ATTORNEYS.

Patentecl July 22, 1947 HOOD FOR THE COCKPITS OF AEROPLANES JamesMartin, Higher Denham, near Uxbridge, England Application July 8, 1944,Serial No. 544,075 In Great Britain August 1, 1943 4 Claims.

This invention comprises improvements in and relating to hoods for thecockpits of aeroplanes and particularly to a type of hood which isadapted to slide upon suitable guides on the aeroplane structure andwhich may also be provided with simple means for instantly releasing thehood, in an emergency, to enable the occupant or occupants to escapefrom the cockpit by parachute or otherwise.

An object of the invention is to provide a strong, light and neat formof hood for an aeroplane cockpit which may be of a good streamline form,which will give a clear unobstructed view all around the pilot orobserver and which may be readily opened and closed for purposes ofventilation or for access to the cockpit and which may be instantlyreleased from its supports to permit an emergency escape of the pilot orother occupants from the cockpit of the aeroplane.

By way of example and in order to enable the invention to be clearlyunderstood a construction of the invention suitable for use with a highspeed fighter aeroplane will now be described in detail with referenceto the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of part of an aeroplane showin the slidinghood in the open position.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the hood detached from the aeroplane andlooking upwardly into the hood.

Fig. 3 is a broken perspective view of part of the monocoque tail end ofthe hood.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view showing one of the slidablecarriages and the method of detachably securing the front of the hoodthereto.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of a front corner of the hoodlooking at the outside thereof.

Figs. 6 and '7 are respectively end view and side elevation of one ofthe slidable carriages to which the front end of the hood is detachablysecured.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the center rear slidable carriage to whichthe tail of the hood is secured and showing the traversing chain bywhich it is moved to and fro in its guide.

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic view illustrating a suitable method oftransmitting motion from an operating handle in the cockpit to the rearslidable carriage for the purpose of opening and closing the hood, and

Fig. 10 is a modified release device.

Referring to the drawings, the hood I comprises a single sheet ofstrong, clear, transparent synthetic resin or other suitable materialmoulded to the well streamlined shape shown in Figs. 1 and 2 of thedrawings. Around the front and lower edge of the transparent sheet issecured the metal frame 2. The hood is mounted over the cockpit of theaeroplane and slides on two guides 4 arranged one at each side of thecockpit 3 and a rear centre guide 5 mounted on the upper surface of thefuselage 6 at the rear of the cockpit 3. In Fig. 1 the hood is shownmoved back along its guides to provide access to the cockpit 3 but whenthe hood is moved forward, its front edge engages with the frame I ofthe windscreen 8 which is securely anchored at the front of the cockpitand a flexible fairing 9 is provided at the junction of the windscreenand the upper surface 6 of the fuselage. The lower edge of the hood isalso provided with a resilient fairing strip l 0 part of which isomitted in Fig. 2. This fairing strip l0 engages along its whole lengthwith the continuous slightly raised rubbing strip H mounted on thefuselage to coincide with the fairing strip II! when the hood is in theclosed position. When the hood is opened the front end of the fairingstrip slides freely along the rubbing strip l I whilst the rear end ofthe hood disengages from the rubbing strip and stands clear of thefuselage so as not to damage the surface thereof.

The constructional features of the hood are more clearly shown in Figs.2, 3, 4 and 5. The tail end of the hood is of rigid monocoqueconstruction as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. This is effected by providing theinverted channel section arched bridge l2 which connects the lower metalframe 2 of the two sides of the hood. This is further braced to the sideframe 2 by the curved members 13 and the whole is enclosed and greatlystiffened by the sheet metal covering M which completely encloses theunderside of the tail section. The Whole structure is further stiffenedby the longitudinal channel l5 secured at its forward end to the bridge12 and to the extreme end of the hood at its other end and havingoutwardly turned flanges l6 by which it is secured to the metal covering[4. Further stiffness is added by the tail end bulkhead H which issecured by its flanged edge l8 to the frame 2 and by the lower flange l9to the metal covering 14.

The hood is mounted on the aeroplane by means of plug and socketconnections to slidable carriages mounted in guides on the aeroplanebody, In the arrangement shown in the drawa block 3| on the transversebridge l2.

ings, three carriages are provided one in each of the guides 4 at theside of the cockpit and one in the guide 5 at the back of the cockpit.The carriages are shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8. Each carriage comprises abody 26 provided with a pair of rollers 2| mounted on a spindle 22rotatable in the body 20. Mounted on the body 20 is the tapered plug 23which engages the body by means of the forked lower part 24 pivotallyconnected to the body by means of the pivot pin 25 arranged at rightangles to the roller spindle 22. The plug 23 is thus able to swing aboutthe roller spindle 22 and also about the pivot pin 25 at right anglesthereto and is therefore able to adjust itself freely to avoid anybinding of the carriages in their guides. In Fig. 8 the body 23 of thecarriage which slides in the guide 5 is provided with eyebrackets 26 atthe back and front thereof for the attachment of a chain by which thecarriage and the hood may be traversed backward and forward for thepurpose of opening and closing the hood.

The hood is mounted on the slidable carriages arranged.- in the guides 4and 5 by means of two brackets 36 at the front corners of the hood andEach of these brackets 39- and the block 3| is provided with. a taperedsocket 32 which fits over the plug 23 onone of the slidable carriages.Each plug 23 and socket 32. is secured together by a transverse lockingpin. One of the brackets 30: with the slidablecarriage is shown indetail in Fig. 4. The bracket 33 is riveted to the frame 2 of the hood Iand the tapered socket 32 fits closely over the taperedplug. 23 and thetwo are locked together bythetapered locking pin 33. The tapered lookingpin 33 is formed on the end of the slidable spindle 34 which issurrounded by a spring 35 which urges the locking pin 33 into engagementwith'the plug 23 and socket 32. The locking pin 33and its spindle 34 andspring 35 are located in. the housing 36 on the bracket 30 and a part ofthis housing is broken away in Fig. 4 to show the spindle and spring. Asquared collar 31 is screwed into the end of the housing 36 to retainthe spring 35-therein. The spindle 34 of the locking pin 33 is connectedby a coupling 38 to arelease cable 39 by which the locking pin may beretracted to release the socket 32 from the plug 23 on the slidablecarriage mounted in the guide 4 at' the side of the cockpit 3. A similararrangement of' locking pin is provided with the socket 32inthe-block 3t which engages with the tapered plug 23 of the carriage which ismounted to slide in the rear guide 5.

Thelocking pin 33 of each of the sockets 32 is connected by a, releasecable 39 to the single coupling plate 46 which is connected to anoperating lever 4| by a pull rod 42. The operating lever is pivotallysupported at 43 on one side of the longitudinal channel 15 in the tailof the hood as shown in Fig. 2. The other end of the operating. lever isconnected by an adjustable coupling 44- to an operating cable 45connected at its other end to a hand lever 46 pivoted on the frame 2 ofthe hood at a convenient position where it will be readily accessible tothe pilot or other occupant of the cockpit. The release cables 39 andoperating cable 45 may be enclosed in an outer guide sheath. In anemergency the lever 46 is pulled sharply back so that the operatingcable 45 will turn the operating lever 4| about its pivot 43 pullingback the plate 40 and all three of the release cables 39. This willwithdraw all the locki s p 33- A 1 thr e sockets 32 will thus besimultaneously released from the tapered plugs 23 on the slidablecarriages in the guides 4 and 5 and the hood is freed for jettisoning.The taper of the locking pins 33 and the plugs 23 and sockets 32 issuflicient to ensure that they will not bind, thus ensuring a ready andinstantaneous release of the hood.

An alternative arrangement of release lever is illustrated in Fig. 10 inwhich the release lever 56' is pivoted to the frame 2 at 5| and isconnected to the operating cable 45 at 52. The lever is turned in aforward direction until it engages in the clip 53 formed on the bracket30 in which position it is secured by the release pin 54. A strongspring 55 is anchored by a link 56 to the bracket 36 on the frame 2 andthis spring exerts a constant pull on the release lever. When it isrequired to release the hood for jettisoning, the release pin 54 iswithdrawn, the spring 55 will turn the lever 56 about its pivot andexert a strong pull on the operating. cable 45 so as to withdraw the.locking pins 3-3 and release the hood.

Operating means for opening and closing the hood by hand is illustrateddiagrammatically in Figs. 1 and 9-. For this purpose an operating handleEllis mounted in a bearing in the inner face of one of the invertedchannel shaped members 6|, one vof which is located at each side of thecockpit 3 (shown more particularly in Figs. 4 and 5). The guides 4 aremounted on these inverted. channel shaped members 6t and the outer skin.62 of the aeroplane fuselage is supported on this channel 6! as shownin Fig, 5. The handle 60- carries on the inner end of its spindle atoothed pinion 63 which gears with atoothed gear wheel 64, which againgears with aifurther gear wheel 65 to reverse. the direction ofrotation. One of these gears may however be omitted if desired. The gearwheel 65 is mounted on the same spindle as a sprocket wheel 66. A chain61 is mounted on this sprocket wheel 66 and a further sprocket wheel 68locatedbehind the rearend of the cockpit 3. The spindle of the sprocket68 is connected by a shaft 69 and two universal joints to a sprocketwheel 10 located in line with the front end of the guide 5. A furthersprocket wheel H is located at the other end of the'guide 5 and a chain12 passes round these sprocket wheels 10 and H and along the guide 5(the upper surface 6 of the aeroplane being slotted to allow thesprocket wheels and chain to pass through). The two ends of this 'chain12 are connected to the eye brackets 26 on the body 20 0f the slidable.carriage mounted in the guide 5. This carriage supports the rear end ofthe hood by means of its tapered plug 23 which engages in the socket 32.in the block. 3| carried by the transverse bridge l2 which connects thetwo sides of the hood and forms a strong feature of the monocoque tailsection of the hood. By operating the handle 60 the chain 12 will,traverse the rear slidable carriage in the guide 5 and willcausethe hoodto be opened or closed according to the direction in which the handle 66is turned. It will be seen that the winding gear for opening and closingthe hood operates quite independently of the hood release mechanism andalso that the hood may instantly be released whatever position it mayoccupy when the releasev lever is actuated. The hood formsa- Very strongand rigid structure and provides excellent vision all round the pilot orother occupant of the cockpit. s

I claim:

1. Ina hood for-the cockpitof arr-aeroplane,

the combination of a streamlined transparent cover having a tapered rearsection, a concave cover fixed to the bottom of said rear section, aslidable carriage supporting said first-mentioned cover at each sideedge, another carriage centrally disposed under the concave cover ofsaid rear section, all of said carriages being adapted to be mounted onguides fixed to the aeroplane, releasable coupling means for connectingsaid hood to said carriages and means connecting all of said couplingmeans for releasing them simultaneously.

In a hood for the cockpit of an aeroplane as recited in claim 1 in whichthe releasable coupling means comprises a tapered socket mounted on saidhood, a tapered plug mounted on the slidable carriage which supportssaid transparent cover, a locking pin passing transversely through saidsocket and plug, a cable having one end connected to said locking pin,the other end of said cable being connected to said releasing means.

3. In a hood for the cockpit of an aeroplane as recited in claim 1 inwhich the releasing means comprises a single coupling plate, meansconnecting said coupling plate with said releasable coupling means, anda lever for reciprocating said coupling plate for releasing saidcoupling means.

4. In a hood for the cockpit of an aeroplane, the combination of astreamlined transparent cover having a tapered rear section, a concavecover fixed to the bottom of said rear section, a slidable carriagesupporting said first-mentioned cover at each side edge, anothercarriage centrally disposed under the concave cover of said rearsection, all of said carriages comprising rollers adapted to ride uponguides fixed to the aeroplane, a tapered plug mounted on each of saidcarriages, a, corresponding tapered socket mounted on said hood, alocking pin passing transversely through each of said sockets and saidtapered plugs, a cable attached to each of said pins, all of said cablesbeing connected to a single coupling plate, a lever mounted on saidcentral carriage and having one end connected to said coupling plate, anoperating cable having one end attached to the other end of said lever,the other end of said operating cable being connected to an operatinglever whereby reciprocation of said operating lever will simultaneouslywithdraw all of said locking pins and release said hood from saidaeroplane.

JAMES MARTIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,125,752 Saulnier Aug, 2, 19382,332,158 Magill et a1. Oct. 19, 1943 1,743,074 Roth Jan. 7, 1930FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 536,954 Great Britain June 3, 1941

